I started a family night blog...

I started a new blog that will include all of the family night lessons and activities we do every Monday night. If you're interested, check it out: http://ldsfamilynightfun.blogspot.com.

Feels Like Home

Owen is crawling! (7 months old)

Catching a snail family with a baby and all. The boys named them Leaf, Fred, Stinky, etc.


Conference weekend we made caramel apples between sessions. Delicious.

Merritt surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers for our 6th wedding anniversary. He arranged it himself. Weren't they beautiful?

Merritt's family at the airport anxiously waiting for their missionary to return home.

Elder Mitchell returns, greeted by all eight of his siblings and parents! So good to all be together.

My boys having fun during our first family night in our new apartment!

Merritt and my brother Ryan finished Jill's basement, and we moved in last week. I unpacked the last box last night. There's still cleaning to do and closets to organize but it's actually starting to look and feel like home. The kids seem to be adjusting to the move just fine. I think it's shown them that things can change but your family stays the same. No matter where you go, you always have best friends when your brothers are around. In fact, Luke has started to refer to Collin as his best friend. The other day he was looking for Collin and said, "Mom, where's my best friend Collin?" So cute.

Collin seems to be really enjoying kindergarten. I've been amazed at the improvement in his handwriting and reading. He can read simple books all by himself now. I'm so excited for him. What a gift it is to be able to read!

Luke is really enjoying the home preschool I do with him and his friend, Haylie. He seems to be soaking it up. He loves to read stories, do art work, and learn science. He pretends to read and write (probably because he wants to be like his big brother). He recognizes all the letters and most numbers now. So we're working on learning the sounds each letter makes. We've talked about plant life cycles, the sun and moon, and how to make observations using our five senses. It's great fun.

Owen turned 7 months old and is crawling all over the house. He pulls himself up to a standing position on furniture too. He's quite mobile, and I'm constantly fishing stuff out of his mouth. It's definitely time to childproof the house.

Merritt and I have been given callings at our new church, which has also helped us feel like we're settling in. Merritt is serving on the ward activities committee and I've been asked to teach Sunday school to the 12-13 year old youth.

I love my new calling. I love working with the kids and I love learning from the scriptures. I have about 8-11 kids that show up every week (almost all of which are boys) so it's a relatively large class. Last Sunday was my first time teaching and I think it went pretty well.

Of course, everything would be even better if Merritt could actually find work. He's still unemployed and spends hours each day job searching and networking and emailing applications and resumes. He's been here over a month now and hasn't been invited in for a single interview. But we're trying not to get discouraged.

Merritt seems most hopeful about working as a nursing home administrator. He's looking into AIT (administer in training) programs locally and in California. As for me, I'm starting to teach at a preschool once a week with a woman who uses primarily science for her curriculum. We're also hoping to start writing a book together some time within the next couple of weeks. She's a published author and professor at Weber State University. I'm excited to have found such a great mentor with whom I have so much in common.

I really enjoyed general conference last weekend. It always sustains and uplifts and refreshes me to sit at the feet of living prophets and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. I learn so much and enjoy feeling the Holy Spirit teach and testify and reassure me of God's love. I find myself always wishing that the whole world could hear them speak. It's such a life-changing experience every time. I feel so much love for the leaders of the church and I look to their example to guide me.

This weekend we actually had company in our new place already. Merritt's parents came up from Monticello to visit. It was so fun to see them. And it was Mark's first time meeting Owen. They were picking up Merritt's brother at the airport whom they had not seen in two years. He has been serving as a missionary in Georgia. Merritt's other brother, Adam, leaves for his mission in a couple of weeks. He's been called to serve in Chile and will be learning Spanish.

The whole family came to the airport to greet Peter as soon as he arrived at the airport. While we were waiting there were other missionaries reuniting with their families as well. It brought tears to my eyes to watch their faces. What a reunion that must be for parent and child! I couldn't help but think that it will be my turn someday to send my sons away and then receive them back again. Velinda commented to me that she sends them away boys and they come back men...and not just men but heroes deserving a hero's welcome. So true.

Luckily for me my heroes are still little, and they stay home with me and I can talk to them and hug them and kiss them whenever I want. And they make me smile every day. Actually, both Collin and Luke are turning out to be quite the characters. The night Merritt's parents were staying with us, Collin pulled a prank on Nana.

Collin had been playing all afternoon with one of those little plastic spider rings you see around Halloween. Well that night when we gathered for family prayer, we all closed our eyes and reverently bowed our heads. All except Collin that is. He quietly slipped the spider onto Nana's lap while she had her eyes closed. When the prayer ended she opened her eyes and squealed, much to Collin's delight. It was pretty hilarious. Thankfully she had a great sense of humor about it. After all, she has raised four boys.

As for Luke, he is developing quite the comic timing as well. Grandma introduced the boys to Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets, which they love. And one night she asked them if anyone needed barbecue sauce. Later that evening, Luke was trying to enter an adult conversation and very seriously interrupted everyone to ask, "Does anyone need any barbecue sauce?" For some reason it struck us all as funny and we shared a good laugh. Well, ever since Luke has continued to occasionally ask whether anyone needs barbecue sauce. What makes this so entertaining is that he does it just enough to make it funny every time.

For example, we all went to the movie theater to watch the new Ice Age movie, Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Grandma and Grandpa were there. Amy and Mitch were there, as well as our entire family of course. The movie was at a slow point and I remember thinking to myself, I hope this picks up soon. And then, just when the theater was at its quietest, Luke leans over in his seat to face the row of family members and whispers, "Does anyone have any barbecue sauce?" And it became one of those moments when you're laughing in public and shouldn't be, so it makes you laugh even harder.

Life is never dull when you have three boys. It's great. It really is.

All Aboard! (Luke Turns Three)

Luke requested a train party for his birthday this year. He is obsessed with trains. And has been so looking forward to having a birthday party. He couldn't wait until it was his turn to blow out some candles and turn three. (Mostly because he wants to be big like his brother Collin.)

Luke loves to build train tracks, read train books, watch Thomas on T.V., find real trains while we're driving around the city, etc. It's really quite cute to see a little boy so passionate about something.

His favorite book is The Little Engine That Could. Did you know that book was written in 1930? It's a classic. And it has recently been published with new illustrations. I highly recommend it to anyone with train-loving sons.

Anyways, I spent 3-4 hours decorating a train cake for him, which was totally worth it. The first time he saw it you should have seen the look on his face. He was astonished. He just sat and stared at it and didn't want to leave it.

In the evening his cousins came over for some train games: conductor Simon says, a musical train walk, and a follow the conductor train ride through the backyard. This included the blowing of train whistles, which was everyone's favorite part.

We read The Little Engine That Could while the kids ate their cake and ice-cream, then opened presents. Afterward, the kids built train tracks and watched Thomas movies until we finally called it a night.

I feel so lucky to be Luke's mom. What a joy he is. I love him so much. It was wonderful to see him so happy on his birthday. And thanks to all the grandparents, aunts and uncles who came to celebrate with us too. You all helped make this a special day for Luke.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Merritt is finally here! It's been so nice to have him back. That was the longest we had ever been apart. And it was a long 4 1/2 weeks. He arrived Labor Day weekend late Friday night.

Luke kept saying over and over in a very proud tone, "This is my dad." He just wanted Dad to hold him all night. And he kept telling Merritt, "You're big. You're strong." I think he was remembering how good it felt to be in Daddy's arms.

I could second that.


This is Luke stealing peaches during the peach walk (which was a game played similarly to a cake walk) at Brigham City's Peach Days Festival.

Our cousins Wesley and Riggs riding the train at Peach Days.

Our cousin Hannah's fifth birthday party. (I was jealous of her Tinkerbell cake.)

This is Owen being cute at the birthday party.

This is Collin on the water slide at Hannah's birthday party.

This is Luke discovering he is allergic to mosquito bites. Check out his swollen eye and forehead! Poor thing.

For those of you who care to read more, here is the longer version of the stories that accompany these pictures:

The first thing Merritt wanted to do was spend some time with his family. We went to Provo the next morning for a cousin birthday party (cute Hannah turned five) and a BYU football game. Merritt said it was one of the best days of his life. Not because he had missed his family so much and it was so nice to be with them again, but because BYU beat Oklahoma 14-13. It was apparently a very exciting game for him.

On Labor Day Monday we spent the day with just our little family, swimming at the pool, playing tennis and watching a movie at the theater (Ice Age III). All in all, it was a great way to spend the last weekend of the summer.

On Tuesday it was Collin's turn to bring the snack bucket to kindergarten. Being the science geek that I am I called and asked Collin's teacher if I could make solar ovens and cook s'mores for his class. She probably thought I was crazy but she agreed to let me do it. She even let me talk to the kids for a few minutes before the snack about how I made the ovens.

I told the class that the sun was made of fire (burning gases) and gives light and heat to the earth. I used the heat from the sun to cook s'mores for our snack today! Did you know there are only 14 more days left of summer! Soon the earth (the place where we live) will be further away from the sun. We won't be so close to the hot sun and the temperature will drop. Autumn and then winter will soon be on its way. The kids seemed pretty relieved by this since their school does not have air conditioning and it's about 90 degrees outside every day.

Merritt has resumed his job search and is utilizing resources at the LDS employment services to spiff up his resume and explore career options. He'll also start this week finishing my sister's basement (the apartment in which we will soon live). Meanwhile we are living with my sister and her family. They have been so gracious and we are very appreciative.

Friday night we headed up to Brigham City for Peach Days and to visit Merritt's cousin, Sarah and her family. We hit the children's parade, the free children's activities on Main Street, the carnival and the food tents for some peach cobbler. It was fun to catch up with Aaron and Sarah and see their home in Brigham City. (We had never been there before.) I hope we see a lot more of them now that we live in Utah. Both Merritt and I really enjoy their company.

Sadly, poor Luke had an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite he got at Peach Days. So the next day his entire forehead was a large lump and his right eye was swollen almost shut. He also had a swollen wrist and leg due to mosquito bites. We actually took him to the doctor because he looked so miserable, kind of like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. (His face was that ugly.) But of course it was a waste of a $20 co-pay. The doctor said he was fine and did nothing to help him. I guess we just have to wait it out.

Collin's Primary program was today at church. He belted out all the songs and did very well delivering his part in the microphone. It made me miss Primary. I was really looking forward to helping with the program in November. Our curriculum and music this year has been my favorite so far...all about how to build strong families. I kind of hope they invite me to serve in the Primary in my new ward. We'll see.

Finally, my grandpa turned 88 and we had a little birthday party for him tonight. We had a steak dinner and chocolate cake. Yum. The kids spent the evening collecting acorns from the oak trees in my Aunt Lisa's backyard. They collected hundreds of them. So I'll have to think of a fun activity we can do with them. Collin is really into counting to 100 lately, so even if we just counted them I bet he'd think that was fun.

That reminds me...I'm starting Mom's School up again with Luke this week. I've found a couple of moms to do it with so I'm excited. We'll be reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for our first story time and introduce the concept of upper and lower case letters. I have a real coconut we will explore and talk about how to use our senses to make observations (an introductory science lesson). For art work we'll paint our own coconut tree and add alphabet letter stickers to the top. It should be fun!

First Day of Kindergarten

The following conversation occurred after snapping 132 photos of Collin before he left for his first day of kindergarten this afternoon.

We were sitting on the front porch waiting for school to start when Collin asked me, "Mom, what's your favorite thing to do?" I said, "Play with you." He smiled and then said, "Oh, I would have said it was taking pictures."

I tried to explain why moms like to take a lot of pictures on the first day of kindergarten. The day you send your baby out into the world is a big day. It's hard to let go. But it's also a very happy and special day that you want to always remember.

When I picked him up, Collin said he had a great first day of school. He was smiling and excited and happy and full of things to tell me. He's such a good, happy kid. I love him and am very proud of him always.

The only disappointment of the day came on my account. I assumed schools here served lunch to the kindergarten. (They did where I just came from in Oregon.) It turns out Utah schools don't.

Silly me packed my child some lunch and gave him some milk money. When I picked him up, I asked him if the hot lunch looked better than his cold lunch. He then told me that all they served was a cookie, and no milk.

I realized then that he had been served a snack but not a lunch. His lunch was still in his backpack. My poor child was starving. I felt like the worst mother ever. But it didn't seem to put a damper on his day. Tomorrow will be even better, I guess. He gets to go to school AND eat lunch! (Sigh.)

Luke of course was wishing he could go to school too. He put on his new Thomas the Train "pack-pack" and wanted to be in the pictures too. So cute. Then the boys had a flower fight that ended with them picking flowers to put in my hair. I love boys.

Owen Is Sitting

Temple Dedication

Today regular Sunday meetings throughout the Salt Lake Valley were canceled so that we could all view (via satellite at our meeting houses) the dedication of the newly built Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple. It lasted two hours and included talks given by general authorities of the church, a virtual tour of the temple, hymns and a dedicatory prayer. It was a very special opportunity for me.

After the meeting I took my children to see the temple grounds and watch the sunset. (It only took us 15 minutes to get there, as opposed to the 3 1/2 hours it used to take us to get to a temple!) We snapped this photo of the beautiful new temple. Interestingly, I learned today that there are now 130 temples operating throughout the world.

A couple of weeks ago, I also took my children to the temple open house. They were able to go inside and see the beautiful rooms. This is a rare opportunity as well, since after the temple dedication today only adults (issued a special temple recommend from their bishop) can enter this holy place. I hope their little brains can remember some of what they saw, and hold on to that memory until they are of age to worship there themselves.

I feel very fortunate to live so close to a temple now. I am very grateful for the blessings the temple has provided me and my family. I know our family is eternal. And since my husband and I have been apart, I have thought about how heaven truly wouldn't be heaven without him by my side. I am grateful for our eternal marriage, and grateful to have a husband who loves and serves his family. I miss you, babe. I'm sending you love from me and the kids...We hope you can come home soon.

Daybreak

Thanks to an old friend of mine we found a place that made me and my boys a little less homesick. Wendi lives near a man-made lake in the middle of a housing community called Daybreak. (It's really like a mini city.) The kids were in heaven digging in the dirt, wading in up to their necks, and peeing in the water and off the dock. Just like old times. Even Owen liked the water.

Collin and Wendi's little boy Will are the same age and have become fast friends. We hang out once or twice a week now. And every time we get home Collin asks me how many more days until he sees his friend Will again. Then he continues to ask me almost every day until the anticipated day arrives, and then it starts all over again.

I'm so glad he's found a friend already...and I'm so glad that it gives me an excuse to hang out with Wendi again. We met in college, well in Europe actually, on a study abroad. She has been a close friend ever since. Even though I haven't seen her much in the last four years (that's how long I lived in Oregon), when we got together it felt like no time had passed at all. She is an amazing mother, a loyal friend and full of good ideas. She is just fun to be around. I feel lucky to count her as a friend.

Cecret Lake (Mud Pies & Wildflowers)

Today was a great day. I connected with my old friend Haylie. (We were senior class officers together in high school and college roommates at the University of Utah.) She has four kids now, including a set of two-year-old twin boys! It was so fun to meet them all. We took the kids up Little Cottonwood Canyon to do some hiking. We followed a 3/4 mi. trail to Cecret Lake, which was a little steep for the kids but very beautiful.

There were several streams for the kids to play in along the way. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere you looked. That was my favorite part. (See photos of the Indian Paintbrush above.) But what my boys enjoyed most was the mud, of course. As soon as we got to the lake they were instantly dirty from head to toe. Next time I'll bring some empty pie tins and let them make mud pies. Today we settled for mud cookies which we baked on the rocks.

On the way down we saw a moose grazing...in the distance, thankfully. And we got caught in a rain storm, which was a perfect way to end the adventure. I could tell Haylie is an amazing mother. For one thing, she packed one twin on her back and carried the other in her arms for more than half the distance...and at the same time comforted her girls about the rain and thunder. It really was amazing to watch. You go girl! I hope to see more of you now that I'm here!

Timpanogos Cave

We arrived in Utah safe and sound last week. I finally have my computer out of the box and the Internet hooked up, which means I can blog again. Yeah! The first thing I wanted to do in Utah with my kids was take them hiking. Merritt and I both have missed hiking in the mountains. So we took the kids to Timpanogos to see the caves.

These caves are a place I had gone to several times as a child. I remember how amazing and otherworldly they seemed to me then, and I wanted to show Collin. We climbed over 1,000 vertical feet in 1.5 miles which was a real challenge for the kids. But they did great. The caves were every bit as cool as I remember them being.





The words stalagtite and stalagmite are now in Collin's vocabulary. Collin said his favorite part was seeing the "heart" of Timpanogos (see photo above), which is a stalagtite as tall as me and three feet wide that weighs 4,000 pounds. It is pretty impressive.

I think my favorite part was the panoramic views of the valley floor from the top of the mountain...and seeing this beautiful bird which I found out later is called a Stellar's Jay. (I could see myself getting into bird watching.)

Luke was a little weary of the cave, especially because he hadn't yet finished his peanut butter sandwich and didn't understand why he couldn't take it into the cave. He started to cry before the tour even began. He kept shouting, "This is scary!" I knew I had to think of something quick. I told him we were going to see where Thomas the Train lived. Sure enough he stopped crying.

Through every tunnel we expectantly looked for Thomas. Thankfully by the end he wasn't disappointed that Thomas wasn't home. He decided he liked the cave. Every new site he came upon he would shout, "Wow! This is awesome!" I was proud of myself for coming up with a small fib to save the day. And we all got another stamp in our National Parks Passports.

As fun as the day was, I will say I do miss my home in Oregon terribly. I'm still crying in fact. But I enjoy looking out my bedroom window and seeing mountains again, especially as the sun sets and turns them pink. I never grow tired of seeing that.